live mesh

Despite what other blogs would have you believe, BitTorrent Sync was not released for Windows Phone last week. Instead, it was a private beta that was helping develop the Windows Phone version of the app. That beta is finally over. BitTorrent just announced version 1.3 of their Sync product and with it, a new app for Windows Phone users. Let’s check out BitTorrent Sync for Windows Phone.

Good question, Chris. Actually, ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley beat you to the punch. She was on hand this week at PDC and asked Microsoft's Ray Ozzie the same question. The answer? Well, um, sort of ...

“We’re pushing the Live platform stuff to Mix. Or I shouldn’t actually say Mix, in terms of that, it is going to be spring….The Live stuff and phone stuff basically is out in that time frame.

Ohhhhh. OK. Mary Jo was less than impressed by that answer, and so are we (for what that's worth). If Microsoft has its stuff together, maybe we'll see Live Mesh and other Live services all rolled in with Windows Mobile 7. Or maybe we won't.

For our Mac-wielding friends out there, Microsoft has updated Live Mesh so that it now works with Snow Leopard (you know, that 10.6 release of the Mac OS that broke everything). For you number-crunchers out there, the Live Mesh Mac client is now at Version 0.9.4501.0 and can be downloaded from www.mesh.com. [Live Mesh blog]

A heads up for any of you Windows Mobile people also wielding Macs (we know you're out there) and using Live Mesh for some sync love. (OK, we're certainly paring the class here, but whatever.) The Live Mesh team announced Thursday that the Mac client for Live Mesh isn't compatible with Snow Leopard.

With the recent Apple announcement regarding the availability of Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6), we want Live Mesh Mac users to be aware the current Live Mesh Mac software is not compatible with the new OS X version (10.6). We will continue to support Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) users. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience.

But an Engadget tipster may have thrown a bit of a wrench into that small sliver of sanity. Getskybox.com has made an appearance, though you can't actually sign up yet. (And you may be met by a certificate error. Just plow through that.) And there the service gets a new name: Microsoft My Phone. Run file facepalm.exe now.

You'll get 200 megabytes of storage space. Interesting, because the Live Mesh beta currently gives you 5 gigabytes.

The service will be free "at this time."

You'll download an app to your phone. (The install link on the page doesn't work at the time of this writing.)

Back up your contacts, calendar, photos and other info to the MS cloud.

Access your contacts and calendar online.

Share photos.

Obviously we're not privy to all of the app's settings yet, but it looks like the default will be to sync your data once a day, between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Hope that's customizable.

So, for now, we're going to try not to be distracted by what could turn out to be another abomination of a branding scheme and instead focus on the services. And ponder how much of this may be built in to Windows Mobile 7, or, hopefully, 6.5.

Update: Yeah, the site was down for a while. It's back up now, sans log-in links. lol.

We are delighted to release our client software for Mac OS X (10.5.1 or higher) and Windows Mobile (6.0 and 6.1). Because these are both significant new software investments for us, we’re going to only provide them on a limited basis for now (and mobile is restricted to only US or UK to start.) If you get a message saying that we’re at full capacity for these clients, keep an eye on the blog here. We’ll post updates as we increase availability over the coming months.

Catch that? It's out on a limited basis, at least at first, and only available in the U.S. (here) and U.K. (here). If you're already using Live Mesh, log in to your account and add the mobile client.

We'll have more on the mobile client in the near future. In the meantime, check out a video after the jump from the Live Mesh team.

Update: I've got it loaded on the phone just fine. Looks like just a true client of what we've already seen from m.mesh.com. Catch is, it won't connect. And there doesn't appear to be any way to re-enter your username and password, which is bad. But I don't think that's my problem. (Patience, however, is.)

You've undoubtedly by now heard the Windows 7 news coming from the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. What has us excited is the news surrounding Live Mesh.

Today, Microsoft announced that Mesh (which is a building block of the upcoming versions of Windows) will be going into open beta this week. Mobile (and Mac) clients also will finally see the light of day.

If you haven't experienced Live Mesh thus far — we've been using it for a while on our Windows desktops and caught a glimpse of an early mobile client — think on-the-fly file syncing across multiple platforms. Drop a file into a Mesh-enabled folder on one computer, and it's available in the same folder on another computer, nearly instantaneously.

With this beta release we are making another significant step toward this goal. In particular… with this Beta we are providing limited availability of our new Mac and Windows Mobile 6 clients – providing users with a wider range of devices that can participate in their mesh. Later this week as the beta rolls out, access to the Mac client will be provided from the device ring experience at www.mesh.com. Instructions for accessing the Windows Mobile client will be made available at this blog later in the week.

Not quite sure yet exactly what we'll be seeing. Obviously, you wouldn't want 1,000 2-meg files syncing automatically over the air to your phone. But the blog does tell us we should see "The option to sync Live Mesh folders P2P only, excluding your Live Desktop, can now be enabled from the local device."

Remember when we covered Live Mesh for your Windows Mobile phone? The thing that bugged me was that you had to use your web browser to navigate to the site and then rummage through the folders. When you log into the Live Mesh website you see the

With all the wireless capabilities I wonder why we still mess with all these cables in order to sync to our computer. There has to be an easier way to get our info from the web to our devices. Recently Dieter detailed a great way for contacts and calendar from gmail, but what about cab files? More often then not we can simply navigate to the web site that has a .cab file we want and download it there. Then again if it

A recent promotional video released by Microsoft, pimping its upcoming Live Mesh services, contained hidden treasure. The video depicts a typical suburban family, in a halcyon trance, engaged in various usage scenarios that Microsoft loves to employ as backdrops for its products. As a dreamy musical score plays on, a mother stands beside the family pool, using a Samsung i780 to capture photos of her son's swan dives. She then shares said photos with the rest of her proud family (because junior is obviously destined for great things with such impressive aquatic skills) using Microsoft Live Mesh. Go figure.

At 32 seconds into the video something interesting finally appears. An HTC Touch Dual comes into view, but blink twice and you'll miss that it's running an unmistakably different operating system - Windows Mobile 7. Its appearance is only brief, lasting a mere second or two, just long enough to get a quick look. Though somewhat distant and out of focus, the image clearly shows similar characteristics seen in other Windows Mobile 7 mockups, like a radically redesigned GUI and central Vista-like "Orb" (located in the softkey area) that replaces the venerable Start Menu.

Granted, this is only a promotional video, but it does at least provide an inside look at Microsoft's development roadmap for the platform, and proves that earlier mockups will bear a strong resemblance to the final product. This also isn't the first time Microsoft promotional material has leaked Windows Mobile deets --the Treo 800w image that appeared during Bill Gates' 2008 CES keynote was exciting too, but not quite as exiting as the future version of Windows Mobile that appeared during the same speech.